Thursday, June 28, 2007

I got a ton of emails from family and friends that we haven't seen or talked to in years. I guess that's really the purpose of a blog- to keep people updated and to bring people together. Anyway, I was asked to post an update on our family and to let everyone know a little bit more about us and what's been happening in our lives over the past few years.

Well, the biggest thing to happen to us in the past few years is the birth of our first child, Micah Heath Garner. He was born on April 15, 2005. He is 2-years-old now and is a typical two-year-old. He loves to play and is very social. We loves kids and it doesn't matter if they are one or five, he will run right up to them and start playing. He loves to play outside, especially if he can run, swim in his pool, ride his bike, or run through the sprinklers. He has a Disney book that he absolutely loves to look at and he points something out on just about every page.

Micah is a very sweet little boy. Last Friday, we went to a party at our friend's house. They had a giant parachute and were playing a game where some people get underneath the parachute while others stand around the edges and hold onto the parachute. The people underneath are called, "Sharks" and try to pull the other people underneath with them. Heath was holding onto the edge of the parachute and one of the sharks was trying to pull him under. Micah saw this and immediately got a concerned look on his face. He ran over to me and started pointing at Heath and yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" Everyone at the party thought it was so cute because Micah thought his daddy was being hurt. He was coming to mommy to get help.

Also, this morning as I was leaning over the toilet going through my morning sickness routine, Micah walked over to me, started rubbing my leg, and said, "Okay, mommy? Okay?" He gets really concerned about the people he loves.

Our second child is due on October 15th, but if all goes accordingly, she will be born on October 9th. She will be born with a scheduled c-setion, so that's how we know the exact date. It's kind of fun to know that so we can plan things out. Those of you that know me well, know that I'm a huge planner. :)

Heath has been working as a Compliance Auditor for the Bank of American Fork for four years now. It's a challenging job and you wouldn't believe the manual of regulations he has to know. I think it probably weighs 20 pounds. As a little perk, yesterday, his boss sent Heath and the other Auditors to a motivational speech given by Mark Eaton. Heath got to meet Mark Eaton and spent some time talking with him. Heath was really impressed with Mr. Eaton and came away feeling quite motivated. :)

Heath also runs his own Accounting/Bookkeeping business. He also serves as a Deacon's/Scouts leader in our ward, so he's always doing something fun with the boys. But, with everything he's involved in, he is still able to find time to golf. :) You can find him at Hobble Creek several times a week.

I am still working for the State Health Department as a Child Care Licensing Specialist. Basically, I'm a health inspector for child care facilities. It's an interesting job and I do enjoy it. I also teach the 5/6 year old children in Primary. I have 11 kids in the class and they are a handful. My favorite time though, is my time at home with Micah and Heath.

I got a lot of questions about our basement too, so here is a quick update. When it is finished, it will be 2 bedrooms, a family room, laundry room, and a bathroom. One of the bedrooms will become Heath's office though.

Upstairs, the only remodeling we did was to replace the carpet. As soon as the basement is finished, we will move Heath's office down there and then move Micah's room. Micah's current room is quite small, so we decided that it would be better to move him and then use his current room as the nursery for the new baby. As soon as we get Micah's room moved, we will be transitioning him to a regular bed, so wish us luck with that. And, as soon as we have that done and are in a good routine, we will start potty training him. I really want to have that done by the time the new baby is born.

Anyway, I hope that answers some questions. Please email anytime because we love hearing from all of you!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Micah turned 2 in April, so I thought I would post some pics from his party. We had a lot of fun that day. Just about everyone from both sides of the family was able to come, and we really appreciated that. Micah loved the attention and seemed to understand that all the fuss was over him. Enjoy!

Hi all! My sister-in-law gave me the idea to start a blog. I thought it was a great idea, so I decided to join in the fun and start one for my family. So, here it is- The Garner's first post!

Things are going well for us. The basement is really close to being done. The bathroom, plumbing, and finish electrical are all that is left. We're really excited about having it done. We especially can't wait to start spending some time down there because it stays really cool.

Micah is doing GREAT!!! He was sick yesterday and had to be picked up from daycare because he was throwing up. When we got home, he just wanted to sleep. He took a 4-hour nap. It made me nervous that he was sleeping so long, so I checked on him about a thousand times, but each time he was snoring away. When he woke up, he was really hungry. Heath had bought Micah one of his favorite dishes- Fried Rice from Great China. He ate just about all of it.

Micah loves the warm weather and really likes to swim in his little pool. He also loves to play in the sprinklers. His language development seems to be getting better every day. His favorite word right now is, "No!" He especially likes to wave his little finger at me and say, "No mommy!"

Heath is doing well and is still working at the Bank. He also started his own Accounting/Bookkeeping business and is doing really well with that. He's accepting clients, so if you know of anyone who might need some Accounting/Bookkeeping work, please refer him. :)

I am doing well too. The pregnancy is coming along well. I am 24 weeks along. For those of you that don't know, we found out that the baby is a girl. We're really excited about that. She will be named, "Valerie." Her middle name will either be "J" or "Ann", we haven't decided for sure yet. She is due in early October, and we can't wait to meet her!

The Garner's

Here we are in one of the few family pics we have. Heath and I have been married for 9 years. Heath is the Director of Accounting at a Skilled Nursing Faciltiy and runs his own Accounting/Bookkeeping buisness. He enjoys golfing and playing basketball. I enjoy cooking, shopping, and staying home with my two beautiful children.

Micah Heath

This is Micah. He is 5-years-old and is a sweetheart. He just started Kindergarten and loves it!. He loves to ride his scooter and his bike, play Wii, swim, and he loves Mighty Beanz. He hates to eat most foods, but loves chocolate milk and Hershey's candy bars.

Abigail Valerie aka "Abby"

This is our little Abby. She is almost 3-years-old and is very fiesty. She is always on the move and lets you know what she wants and when she wants it. She loves to play with Micah, her babies, jump on the trampoline, and ride her scotter. She is fun loving, sweet, and adds just the right amount of spunk to our family.

Abigail Valerie Garner

Our little Abby.

Just a Few Minutes Old

I'm a Big Brother

Micah loves being a big brother. He is very gentle and affectionate with Abby. He calls her "Baby Babby."

My Three Favorite People

Proud Papa, Big Brother, and Little Sister

See How Tiny She Is

Here is a full body shot of Abby. She is just so tiny.

Okay Sleeper

Abby is an okay sleeper. She usually sleeps for about two hours at a time. However, last nite, she did go almost three hours. Even though she doesn't sleep as long as I would like, she sure looks cute doing it.

Grandma & Abby

Thanks so much to my mom and dad for taking Micah for the first 4 days after Abby was born. Also, thanks to them for staying with us for five more days to help out at home. It was like having our own nanny, as mom cooked and cleaned for us. Thanks so much! We really appreciate you!

Little Angel

Here is Abby in her bouncer seat. I was really excited that this bow would stay on her head. Her head is so tiny that most of her cute little bows are way too big.

Happy Birthday Uncle Cory!

Like I've said before, Micah loves playgrounds. Here he is playing on one of those metal bouncy animals you see frequently at McDonald's Play Land. What you can't tell from this picture is that we were actually at a park in SLC celebrating Cory's birthday. While everyone else was eating Carne Asada Tacos, Spanish rice, fruit salad, and Tres Leches cake, Micah was running around trying out every piece of play equipment. It was a fun day and it was nice to spend Cory's birthday wtih the family.

Funny Story...

A few nights back, I was getting the bath ready for Micah. He was really hot and sweaty because he had gone on a walk with daddy. On the walk, they ran into our neighbors, who also have a two-year-old little boy. So, while daddy talked to the neighbor, Micah and Jacob ran around the yard and jumped on the trampoline. Anyway, I guess I wasn't getting the bath ready fast enough because when I went to get Micah to get him undressed, I found him already in the tub. He was completely dressed, except for one shoe, and he had his favorite Nemo bath toy in the tub with him. I called Heath into the bathoom to see what had happened and Micah just looked at him like, "You should have been faster."

Micah & His Grandpa

Micah loves his grandparents. In this picture, my dad was laying on the couch, watching tv, when Micah just climbed right up and joined him. It was so cute I had to get it on film.

Micah & Some Random Little Boy

When we were in Annabella for the 4th of July, Micah made friends with this little boy. We don't know who he is or anything about him, other than the fact that he and Micah played really well together.

Micah & the Cat

Micah loves animals. When we visit my parents in Annabella, he loves to play with their cat. Here he is laying on the front porch talking to the cat. None of us were quite sure what he was saying, but he seemed to have a lot to say.

So Cute...

This picture is just too cute not to share.

Micah & Daddy Swinging

Micah loves his daddy, especially when they're playing together.

One of Micah's Favorite Things...

One of Micah's favorite things to do is play on a slide. One nite, we took him to a local park to feed the ducks. He was interested in the ducks, but quickly lost interest when he realized there was also a playground nearby. He literally went down this slide 100 times.

Micah and His Gampy

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when Heath's parents were out here visiting. When it was time to leave, Micah held onto Gampy and wouldn't let him go. Later in the day, when Micah woke up from his nap, the first thing he asked for was Gampy. When Heath reminded him that his grandparents had gone home, Micah sadly said, "Popi gone bye bye." I should probably explain some of the teminology used in this post. We call Grandma and Grandpa Garner, "Gammy" and "Gampy." That is how grandparents are referred to in Jamaica. Heath started it when Micah was born and it just caught on. Micah can't quite say the words yet, so his versions are "Mammy" and "Popi".

A Homemade Water Slide

While in Rexburg, we filled the wading pool full of water and then put the Little Tykes slide right in it. Micah caught on quickly and had a blast sliding down it . As you can tell from this picture, he had a great time! In fact, he had so much fun that we had to physically remove him from the pool and put him straight in the bath tub.

Cave Falls

Last weekend, we spent several days in Rexburg, visiting Heath's family. After church on Sunday, we took a drive to Cave Falls. The falls were beautiful and Micah was fascinated. I snapped this picture of my two favorite boys. As you can tell, I'm one lucky girl. :)

New Clothes

We tried to get a pic of Micah in his new church outfit, but we couldn't get him to put the Elmo chair down.

Check out the Birthday Boy!

Birthday Boy

Micah loves this Elmo chair. It was a gift from Grandma & Grandpa Dunn.